%&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz You should know that my mother's expressive command of English belies how much she actually understands. What is Amy Tans primary identity according to what she says in paragraphs 1-3 of "Mother Tongue"? What motivates her to make such an argument?" How do they differ? She majored in English at college and began writing as a freelancer. The difference is in the application of the phrase, which is between general and specific. The only way I would have gotten that answer right would have been to imagine an associative situation, for example, my being disobedient and staying out past sunset, catching a chill at night, which turns into feverish pneumonia as punishment, which indeed did happen to me. What is the author's purpose, style, and tone in the story? New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. Tan is making the argument in "Mother Tongue" that she became a better writer when she began to use both the types of English she spoke to write books her mother could understand. Tan mentions several different emotions when talking about her mothers English. three subjects ~"iW]JL^kP(K/N\' |! c. rout /CA 1.0 Indeed, Tan conjectures that many Asian American children are probably encouraged to pursue careers in jobs requiring maths and science rather than English for this reason. It helps us to understand the way Tan approaches and uses language within the stories that make up The Joy Luck Club. -speech-like; "I was giving a talk to a large group of people." She had cashed out her small portfolio and it just so happened we were going to go to New York the next week, our very first trip outside California. Her mother's "limited" English limited Tan's perception of her. Answers will vary widely, depending on students' personal experiences, situations, and viewpoints. Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. Tan uses it with this definition, but also utilizes it to refer to the language her mom spoke (Chinese). 3. 8 . Amy Tan "Mother Tongue" How do you want to study today? That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of. How is Amy Tan's use of the phrase "mother tongue" ambiguous? -talking to her mom "My mother was in the room", Tan quotes a "terrible line" she once wrote "That was my mental quandary in its nascent state." What is Tan's strategy behind including a lengthy, direct quotation from her mother (para. If too important won't have to stay too long. The class tests at school which reduced English proficiency to an ability to recognise a correct answer are thus contrasted with Tans resounding final words of Mother Tongue, which see her seeking to capture the passion of her mother, the nature of her thoughts, and the imagery she uses: all things which her daughter has clearly inherited a respect for, and which school tests fail to capture or observe. What does that phrase mean to you? Be sure to consider the anecdotes regarding Tan giving a speech, the stockbroker, the CAT scan, and Tan's experience with the SATs. But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people's perceptions of the limited English speaker. Do you agree or disagree with Amy Tan's conclusions about standardized tests? What is your response to Amy Tan's point about the value of different languages? Mother Tongue by Amy Tan questions & answers for quizzes and worksheets - Quizizz Find and create gamified quizzes, lessons, presentations, and flashcards for students, employees, and everyone else. How does each have its own type of power? So I never did well on tests like that. w !1AQaq"2B #3Rbr But I wince when I say that. In this connection, it is noteworthy that Tan chooses to focus on the school tests she undertook before concluding that her mothers broken style of English has been misunderstood not just literally (by some people whove known her), but in terms of the misleading perceptions of her it has led others to formulate. Recently, I was made keenly aware of the different Englishes I do use. In this respect, if the parable Feathers from a Thousand Li Away acts as preface to the novel, Mother Tongue, in effect, acts as a kind of postscript. 11th Grade - Poems by Emily Dickinson: As her mother wasn't able to speak English fluently, she wasn't taken seriously by the staff. -she uses four types of English (the English she grew up with) /SM 0.02 You had agreed to send the check two weeks ago, but it hasn't arrived.". 2. Accessed 2 May 2023. Who are the experts?Our certified Educators are real professors, teachers, and scholars who use their academic expertise to tackle your toughest questions. Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. Language is thus more than just a cultural marker: Tan reveals, in Mother Tongue, the extent to which it is a tool of power (or, depending on the use, powerlessness), particularly for those from migrant backgrounds. What organizational pattern does Tan use in "Mother Tongue," and how does she control her tone? I knew what the tests were asking, but I could not block out of my mind the images already created by the first pair, "sunset is to nightfall"--and I would see a burst of colors against a darkening sky, the moon rising, the lowering of a curtain of stars.And all the other pairs of words --red, bus, stoplight, boring--just threw up a mass of confusing images, making it impossible for me to sort out something as logical as saying: "A sunset precedes nightfall" is the same as "a chill precedes a fever." In dividing the essay into sections, she is able to flow through to her points clearly and subtly. I am going to show you a few of these devices and give you some awesome tips on how to incorporate them into your analysis of Mother Tongue.. Amy Tan's essay "Mother Tongue" is a wonderful tale that addresses the substance of languages and how language is not only a tool of communication, but a sociological tool of measuring individual worth. Envisioning her mother as the reader allowed Tan to write with more fluidity. Discuss how this is present in her writing of "Mother Tongue. What organizational pattern does Tan use in "Mother Tongue," and how does she control her tone? >> She is the second of three children born to Chinese immigrants, Daisy and John Tan. She began writing fiction in 1985, and after several false starts trying to find her own style and idiom, she began to write with her mother in mind as the ideal reader for her stories. This is not to say that people of other countries do not learn English as well, but generally there is a language specific to the place where they were born: this is their mother tongue. "Like others, I have described it to people as "broken" or "fractured" English. Amy Tan's essay "Mother Tongue" discusses the way that language changes, and the ways it stays the same, inside contexts of immigration and generational time. Economics Semester 2 SG 40-60. Does it drag on too much? Yet some of my friends tell me they understand 50 percent of what my mother says. She observes that her mother is treated differently because of the way she speaks. How did Tans teachers identify her when she was in high school? There can be one tone throughout the entire piece or many different tones. The Qin bureaucracy had civil and military divisions and a justekst\underline{\phantom{\text{justekst}}}justekst. Our experts can deliver a "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan essay tailored to your instructions for only $13.00 $11.05/page 308 qualified specialists online Learn more Main text Tan believed that her mother's English reflected the quality of what she had to say-that the imperfections in her speech meant that her ideas were just as imperfect. It was most gratifying to Amy Tan when her mother read The Joy Luck Club, Amy's first book. In "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan explains that she uses multiple "Englishes" in her daily life. Tan grew up in California and in Switzerland and studied English and linguistics at San Jose State University (B.A., 1973; M.A., 1974) and the University of California, Berkeley. Whereas, for me at least, the answers on English tests were always a judgment call, a matter of opinion and personal experience. She says even her husband started speaking this kind of English together and that it has come to represent intimacy. nNSm`NO8 SL6x 9 tG%rzo=>ca3`!VW19>:HmoM!>? _E nYKyrO [%eLm ii+;t9xt;md/C?dSh[`N:)$9HAJI%i2. Edit. Latest answer posted March 29, 2020 at 1:00:09 PM. In Amy Tan's essay "Mother Tongue", Tan reveals how she was sculpted into the successful writer she is from the struggles of language speaking her mother had to face. Latest answer posted October 28, 2019 at 10:43:03 PM, Latest answer posted May 19, 2020 at 7:56:33 PM, Latest answer posted November 08, 2020 at 3:49:32 AM. What strategies does she use to make this argument? /Filter /DCTDecode I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of languagethe way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth.. 3 0 obj Include details from the text. She then contrasts this with a moment when she was walking down the street with her mother and she used the more clipped, informal English she naturally uses with her mother, and her husband. 11th Review / Critical Thinking Questions. She says even her husband started speaking this kind of English together and that it has come to represent intimacy. Some visitors on a search for new healing substances (looks, look) at medicinal plants. 4)_g|a>x{9}=vyG`?>x}.(72qgn>n * {1Mo$*=rnZ|!:Oc@`g=~l^0r8 WC,f;8vu4[e$Nexug (Byo O9|'uc+#Wv8Ee,9 :?6Ns C;0:j1E 66S~o^xzYX8R9 g= ^NTw{ _s7@ "1s m?M ;o V6'=:h eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. Latest answer posted October 28, 2019 at 10:43:03 PM, Latest answer posted November 08, 2020 at 3:49:32 AM. What is the author's purpose, style, and tone in the story? Students may conclude that Tan and her mother did not have a close relationship if they support this opinion with valid examples. Take a practice test. But I do think that the language spoken in the family, especially in immigrant families which are more insular, plays a large role in shaping the language of the child. Describe how others (those who do not know her intimately) see Tan's mother versus how Tan describes her in "Mother Tongue." What incident in "Mother Tongue" makes Tan aware of the different Englishes that she speaks? Her mother, too, was clearly aware of how her use of the language affected how seriously people took her, for she used to get her daughter to phone people and pretend to be Mrs Tan. To see how other students have handled their analyses, check out these example essays on Mother Tongue.. But Tans language, or tongue, has been shaped by her actual mother, whose first language (or mother tongue) was not English, but Chinese. So she said she would not leave until the doctor called her daughter. 18, Tan)". Students' essays will probably address slang and jargon that they use, standard English that they use for most of their school experiences, and possibly formal English that they may use with relatives or in work situations. "9 [5 The phrase "mother tongue" refers to the language people learn to speak first. Amy sets up this comparison by describing a talk that she gave about a book and had given so many times before that it was entirely familiar to her. Explain. Jing-mei's mother quizzes her on various topicsincluding state and national capitals, complicated mathematics, and weather predictionin hopes that she might possess a talent like the children. 6. -uses quotes to give an example of her mother's English Who is the intended audience for "Mother Tongue"? The title of Amy Tans essay is a pun on the expression mother tongue, referring to ones first language. That man want to ask Du Zong father take him in like become own family. Accessed 2 May 2023. Who are the experts?Our certified Educators are real professors, teachers, and scholars who use their academic expertise to tackle your toughest questions. I was saying things like, "The intersection of memory upon imagination" and "There is an aspect of my fiction that relates to thus-and-thus'--a speech filled with carefully wrought grammatical phrases, burdened, it suddenly seemed to me, with nominalized forms, past perfect tenses, conditional phrases, all the forms of standard English that I had learned in school and through books, the forms of English I did not use at home with my mother. This is a key part of Feathers from a Thousand Li Away, and it helps us to understand Tans conflicted attitude towards her mothers use of language as explored in Mother Tongue. Math is precise; there is only one correct answer. Explain the meaning of Tans title and how it relates to her own identity as both a Chinese American, a daughter, and a writer. Be sure to focus on specific language, punctuation, and imagery used to create the overall tone. After youve written your literary analysis, and you dont feel very confident in it, pass it along to one of the Kibin editors. Here is the text: http://www.umsl.edu/~alexanderjm/Mother%20Tongue%20by%20. mother tongue amy tan chinese american writer amy tan, whose mom moved from her homeland china to america to make better life for her daughter, struggles with 3-2 Writing Plan 5-3 Feedback and Chinese way, came only to show respect, don't stay for dinner. -other peoples reactions; how it affected Amy (would make calls for her mom) Symbolism, structure, and tone are only a few literary devices you can use for your analysis, but they are the ones thatll help you get the most out of your analysis. Do you agree that family members have the greatest effect on a child's intellectual development? "The S, The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric, Lawrence Scanlon, Renee H. Shea, Robin Dissin Aufses. Symbolism is when an author uses an object, person, or place to represent a deeper concept. Chapter 8 and Symbolism in The Great Gatsby, The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric, Lawrence Scanlon, Renee H. Shea, Robin Dissin Aufses, Edge Reading, Writing and Language: Level C, David W. Moore, Deborah Short, Michael W. Smith. Cite the text as needed to clarify and support your response. 2. You should know that my mother's expressive command of English belies how much she actually understands. Interesting Literature is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon.co.uk. ______ to influence. Find and create gamified quizzes, lessons, presentations, and flashcards for students, employees, and everyone else. When writing about becoming an English major in college, Tan said that she had always been rebellious. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. And then I said in perfect English, "Yes, I'm getting rather concerned. In "Mother Tongue," do you think that Tan and her mother have a close relationship? What is the context of Mother Tongue? Tan uses points from her personal life and from her work to show that there is no need to separate one's language and identity. 1. Tan calls this clipped informal language her mother tongue, because it was the first language she learned and it helped to shape the way she saw the world and made sense of it. This progression is typical of many stories, both long and short, but in this case you can apply it to tone as well. Her mother gave her praise that meant a great deal to Tan: I knew I had succeeded where it counted when my mother finished reading my book and gave me her verdict: 'So easy to read.'. 17) that Tan claims accounts for her high performance on math tests but not on English tests specifically, analogies? -however, later she decided that she wanted to capture what language ability tests can never reveal "her intent, her passion, her imagery, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts. Write a journal entry from the perspective of Richard the Lion-Hearted during the Crusades. How do they further her argument? -describes how her mom influenced her writing and this is why her mom is the audience. It is not simply, as she first thought, that one type of English is correct and the other incorrect. The mother tongue shapes. Consider the story "Mother Tongue." Lately, I've been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. This was understandable. In "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan explains that she uses multiple "Englishes" in her daily life. Now important person, very hard to inviting him. Why? With the stockbroker, Tan was the one who would step in for her mother over the phone in order to express her mother's thoughts for her. When Amy gave this talk to an audience that included her mother, it caused her to reflect on the distance between the language that she uses in the world of her career and the language that she grew up with at home and still uses with her husband in the present day. stream How would you characterize Tan's tone in the essay? But once Tan had arrived and upon hearing her perfect English, the staff had taken the case up with more urgency. Chinese age I was nineteen. Tan says she uses "simple English" around her mother, and while this isn't the same form that her mother speaks, it symbolizes the bond between her and her family. Start your 48-hour free trial to get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts. How does Tan feel about her mother's tongue, -her mother's "limited English" limited her perception of her mother. How does she establish ethos by this juxtaposition? Discuss how Tan broadens the essay's relevance by going beyond just her personal experience and raising issues that would be germane to her audience. Even though language is not an object you can hold, Amy Tan still uses language to symbolize different, more ambiguous concepts. Tan uses it with this definition, but also utilizes it to refer to the language her mom spoke (Chinese). Why does she divide the essay into three parts? She is motivated to make this argument to explain her method as a writer and her intellectual, literary, linguistic, and personal progress in uniting her two identities and to show that these identities need not be separated. What is the author's purpose, style, and tone in the story? She says this because it could have impacted her in developing the English skills that were expected in school. Indeed, her mother read drafts of her work. /Creator ( w k h t m l t o p d f 0 . Genius is the ultimate source of music knowledge, created by scholars like you who share facts and insight about the songs and artists they love. A scholar would push to discover and learn about their particular subject, while the writer is to take their findings and put them into practice. What is Amy Tans primary identity according to what she says in paragraphs 1-3 of "Mother Tongue"? Find examples of peopleincluding Tan herselftreating her mother. In paragraph 18, she talks about how she's seen (in surveys) how most Asian students as a whole do significantly better on math tests than English ones. What are some good things Andrew Carnegie did? I hesitate to use the word plot in the case of Mother Tongue because it doesnt seem to have much of one, at least not in the traditional sense that most fiction stories do. So mad he lie to me, losing me money. What does the title "Mother Tongue" suggest? Her mother attends her lectures. How does this story help you better understand the point Tan is making in her essay? Tan doesn't concern herself with the fundamentals of language, she explains that her job isn't to learn and explore language, but to apply it. /ColorSpace /DeviceRGB Tan grew up in Northern California, but when her father and older brother both died from brain tumors in 1966, she moved with her. endobj She goes from being ashamed of her mothers speakingfeeling that other people will judge her familyto being proud of the rich culture behind her mothers English. What Tan is classifying in this essay is the different kinds of English she uses. Finally, she wraps it up nicely with a note about how she now uses those various forms of English in her career. 3) Tan describes in this essay? Students' writing should address the specific experiences and messages of the essays that they choose. /Height 155 Life Span 4 . What organizational pattern does Tan use in "Mother Tongue," and how does she control her tone? Do you think her idea is valid? In a short essay "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan reveals her background and describes different kinds of English that she had to speak in her childhood and adolescence. Answer: to inform readers based on Tan's childhood experience Explanation: Amy tan is a Chinese-American writer, she is the daughter of Chinese immigrants and her books reflect a lot on what she has experienced witnessing the culture clash between Chinese and North American cultures. How would you describe Tan's attitude toward her mother? When they called her daughter, who had perfect English, they suddenly found her scan. Du Zong father wasn't look down on him, but didn't take seriously, until that man big like become a mafia. What is the difference? Near the beginning of Mother Tongue, Tan says, I am fascinated by language in daily life. On what were these descriptions and perceptions based according to paragraphs 15-16 of "Mother Tongue"? Other Quizlet sets. This point leads on to Tan's presentation of the virtues of her mother's way of speaking. She reads the Forbes report, listens to Wall Street Week, converses daily with her stockbroker, reads all of Shirley MacLaine's books with ease--all kinds of things I can't begin to understand. In "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan uses people's inclination to assume as a way of exploring the subject of identity. What is the context of Mother Tongue? Review terms and definitions. Her first novel, The Joy Luck Club, is a collection of related stories told by four mothers and four daughters and was later turned into a film. The difference between them not only lies in how they sound when spoken, but which one you speak can impact how others treat and perceive you. How many subjects does Tan explore in the essay? She struggled with tests which asked students to pick a correct word to fill in the blanks in a sentence because she was distracted by the imaginative and poetic possibilities of other words.